author, tavis smiley. good morning from new york. we are here at 30 rockefeller plaza to kick off education nation. it couldn't come at a better time after a volatile week on wall stet. the role education plays in getting the country back to work. first, is the middle east about to take another violent turn? after a speech demanding recognition of statehood, palestinian president ahmadinejad returned to the west bank. moments ago, i sat down with the

prime mister of israel, benjamin netanyahu. prime minister, welcome back to "meet the press." >> good morning. >> good to see you here in new york. >> it's early. >> it is. here, the scene on friday when president abbas made the push for palestinian statehood in the united natio. as those scenes played out, euphoria, a pride for abbas. this was a milestone moment for the palestinians. it most certainly will fail. will there be violent consequences for hat? >> i hope not. it can sceed. there's two pieces to the equation. the palestinians want a state but they have to give pea in return. what they are trying to do in the united nations is get a state without peace or giving israel peace and security. that is wrong. that should not succeed. that should fail. what should succeed is for them

to sit down and negotiate with us to get two states for two people a demilitarized state. that's what should succeed. >> you understand the palestinians are saying it's not going happen. >> it's because of them. i saido president abs, we are in the same city. we are in the same building, for gods sake, in the u.n. let's sit down and talk peace. why are we talking about talking and negotiating about negotiating. put your conditions to the side. sit down opposite on the table. >> i have heard you say that, but it's not going to happen? >> why is it not going to happen? >> i'm saying there's not going to be talks? >> i'm not sure. the palestinians are trying to get a state to continue the conflict with israel rather tan

end it. they are trying to detour around peace negotiations and have the automatic majority give them a state. that's unfortunate. the only way we are going get peace is to negotiate it between the parties. at the end of the day, even though you are pessimistic, you kno it could happen. all you ha to do, abbas is realize what i just said and sit down and just do it. >> i'm not making a judgment, i'm simply reading where we are. let me ask you this question. israel is arguably isolated as it has ever been in the midst of arab spring. turkey turned against you. the arab world turned away fr those who had peace treaties with israel. in this day a age, at this moment, despite israel's well known and substantial security

concerns, how can you occupy palestinian territory? >> i want to suggest some of that is wrong. the first is we are isolated. we are not isolated this the country. it is the strongest country on earth. i walked yesterday in central park. people met me. jewish-americans and many not jewish-americans. keep the faith. strong, we are with you. a former colonel met me. he said we ar with you all the way, stay strong. a new york nypd liceman said i'm not jewish, we supportyou. america supports isrl, number one. number two, you should come with me to greece or bulgaria or poland or see the talks we have

with the dutch and with others. people have a different view. they have a different view. in italy, many, many countries are coming to realize that our demand that we have direct negotiations and that the palestinians finally recognize the jewish and give this tiny country israel the security it needs. people are getting around to that. i would argue, i would challenge how it's read. very strong -- >> you are not worried as being seen as out of sync, even if you are right and history is on your side, is it possible in this environment being right is not enough? >> it's possible to insist on the things that make life possible. go to the core of the issue, the core of the conflict. the core of the conflict, to recognize israel, get to the truth. i and on the truth because a

peace that is based on the reality -- >> let me come back -- >> i want to tell you, i said to the u.n. better that -- i'm responsible for the one and only jewish state. i'm not going to head recklessly to feed more territory, the crocodile of militant islam, as i call it. takes over every territory we vacate. i want to make sure it doesn't snap its gaping jaws, as i said, and devour us for dinner. that's peace. people that insisted on property and the conditions of peace have not been popular over the years and over the decades. you know, a lot of good peopl receive bad press. we stand, i stand for principle, for what i think is required for my nation to survive. let the political fashions and

the wind of popular opinion move aside. that's not important. >> you talk about your alliance with the united states. back in 2002 you said israel had no better friend in the white house than george w. bush. would you say the same asarack obama? >> when did i say that? >> 2002. >> they keep moving and adding new people. >> george w. bush and president obama are goo leaders in your mind? i'm asking a serious question. prime minister you said america was behind you. this has been a relationship between your administration and this administration. just this week, mitt romney said of barack obama he threw obama under the bus. do you disagree with those statements?

>> david you are trying to throw me under the bus of american politics. i'm not going to be thrown there. >> you didn't mind disagreeing about president clinton. do you agree with this? >> this is the truth about america. israel enjoys tremendous bipartisan support. tremendous. you have to walk around the breadth of this country, fly to the country. everywhere you go, you see this tremendous, tremendous affinity for israel. is is what is one of the great blessings that israel has in the 21st century. i think that bipartisan support is expressed by any person -- >> are you concerned -- >> president obama. every one of the u.s. presidents represent and acts on the friendship of the american people to israel. by the way, a piece of news, israel is one country in which

everyone is pro-american. i represent the entire people of israel who say thank you america nd we are friends with america. we are the only reliable ally of america in the middle east. >> in your book,resident obama is just as much a frie as george w. bush. >> they are all friends equally reresenting friendship of america. >> there's no peace prospect yet. what if it ends up with th palestinian authority simply dissolving. doesn't israel then become a minority leadership over a majority population not consistent with democracy? >> we don't want that. i don't want the palestinians to be incorporated into israel as citizens or subject. it doesn't work. i said that to my colleagues, by the way at the internal cabinet meetings. i want to be clear on what i

want. i don't want a peace process. >> i think the truth is they have their own independent state at which recognizes our connections to this land but also recognizes the fact that we have unique security requirements because we are a country that could be the width of manhattan. it's hard to dend. if we have their connection of israel as a jewish state and the requirements, there's no reason that we won't have peace. that's what i'm working for. i can't -- president abbas has to turn to his people and do what i did. it's tough facing your constituency. it's tough addressingour days sang you know, it's over. i recognize the jewish state. israel is here to stay. it's not a fact that it's here today and gone tomorrow.

>> let me pick up on that point. as you said in your statement, president abbas referred to the crime of israel being 1948, not 1967. isn't it clear the palestinians will never accept israel as a jewish homeland? do you fear the two-state solution is no longer viable? >> you know, i was so disappointed to hear him say that because he was going back. i was trying to move forward. i said listen, let's talk. you know, i have deep, deep connections to this land, the land of israel, the land of jacob, the father of benjamin, my name sake. i recognize this in other people living there. let's sit down and work out a solution. you tell me, now president abbas comes and says this land has been sacred for muslims and

christians for 2000 years. hello! you know, we have been around there 2,000 years. jesus came from a certain place. this bible thing, which precedes it. why can't you recognize our history and the jewish connection to the jewish land? why not recognize the past, seize the future? i'm willing to do that. i gave a speech, you heard my speech, it was -- i wouldn't say it was a softy speech, i was a tough speech but conceal tour. here is my hand. reach out, grasp it. if you ask me, what is the main thing, the simple thing, it's everything in all the arguments. the fact is, you can tell me now, you can ask me a question. aryou willng to sit here, change your plans have president abbas come here and start peace negotiations right now on the

sunday show. well, in the afternoon. the answer is, yes. i would do it. he would not do it. so, if we want to get a two-state solution, it's his decision. >> final point. >> from my point of view, we can get it. >> former president clinton has been critical of you. he said this, i'll put it up on the screen. the resolution of the united secuty council because they need guaranteed. the netanyahu government is making a final agreement more difficult. he said, quote, that's what happened. every american needs to know thi the netanyahu government's call for gauche nations means he's not going to give up the west. >> you know, i regretfully and

respectfully disagree with former president clinton. he should know, more than anyone else in the peace conference he provided in camp david in 2000 with the former prime minister abbas, it was the palestinian side that walked away from the per parameters. just would not close in on another prime minister's suggestion. in the two and a half years since then, anybody knows that i madthese offers again and again. call for two states for two people. noody did that, ever, for nearly a year. hey didn't come. they don't want to woman. they go to the u.n. i disagree with that. >> the west bank would never be given up? that's not true? >> no we could arrive at an arrangement to give the palestinians the life of dignity. the leaders were prepared to do it. you know what?

i hope they do. not only for our sake, for their sake, too. >> we're going to leave it there, prime minister netanyahu, thank you very much. >> thank you. from the mideast to the debates back home, the economy and jobs. joining me now, the mayor of new york city, michael bloomberg. thanks for having us here. >> thanks for being here. no rain. we are all good. >> education nation coming. this has been a tough week for the dow. the worst since october 200 8. this captured the market swoon on recession fears. >> what goes on in europe concerns us greatly. if europe comes art, the eu comes apart. people own securities around the world in this day and age. the partisanship. think about it. one month later, we are a few

days, a week away from shutting down the government, again. it's going to sweep us now. people have no confidence that washington, both sides of the aisle are coming together to do what'right for the economy. >> can you explain how that impacts businesses? we hear it. it's the conventional wisdom. it means the businesses aren't hiring. they are making money, doing more with less, yet they are not hiring. >> nobody has more confidence. if you are a bank and have money, would you make a loan when people are talking about putting you in jail for what happened t mortgage crisis? if you are a business, would you take a loan and hire more people when every day this talk about different regulation and tax policy? they have to know what it has to be in the future. a plan. hiring people is a long term commitment. if you are an individual, would you take the extra vacation when you are not sure what washington

is going to do to keep job creation going in america? in the end, it's confidence, confidence, confidence. >> the job of confidence as the chief executive is present obama. >> it's no question, it is the president. he needs help from both sides of the aisle and from congress. >> how do you accept this. is he exercising leadership? does he have a vision? >> some things i agree with, some things i don't. he has a vision. he's got things which may or may not make a difference. at least he's trying. everything we talk about in washington is viewed in is it good or bad politics, not is it good or bad for the enomy. >> what about the economy. when do you see substantial job growth and the number coming down? >> you are not going to do it until people feel betr about the future and until they see

washington pull together. i hope it doesn't have to wait a year and a quarter until the next presidential election. we can't wait. i keep saying, whether you like the president or not, everybody has to pull together and help the president. as the president goes so goes the country, as the country goes, so goes your job and ability to feed your family. taxes. the president, this week was in cincinnati taking it to the republicans. this is a portion of what he said. >> now the republicans, you know, i talked about this earlier in the week. they said this is class warfare. you know what? it's asking aillionaire to pay their fair share of taxes. to y the same tax rate as a plumber or teacher. if it's warfare, then you know what? i'm a warrior for the middle class. >> does that trouble you? >> it does trouble me. you can't define what is middle

class and what is wealthy and what is poor. every time you have a jump and people play games on oneide of another. i think it's not fair to say that wealthy people don't pay their fair share. they pay a higher percentage of income. they have a higher rate than people who make less. the buffett thing is theatrics. if he made money from regular come rather than capital gains, his income would be higher. if you are going to raise taxes, you are going to have to raise taxes on everybody. i suggest 2% or 3% on everybody. it's 150 bucks. for the wealthy, it's a lot of money. it's the only way to get things through congress. it's also true, if you are going to cut back, we can't balance the budget without increasing revenues and decreasing expenses. you have to take away the tax breaks for the wealthy andut back on entitlements.

unless we do all these things, it just doesn't work. who is good theater and politics isn't necessarily good policy. >> when you speak, people listen. o you think he's doing a disservice to the debate when the millionaires will pay on average 29.1% of income according to the associated press? >> i think a lot of it is theater. i think it's more than a sound byte policy. we should look at the real data rather than say one guy pays more than his secretary. >> let mesk you about politics. it's part of the debate over the economy and taxes. there's talk that there's dissatisfaction in the field. you know governor chris christie well. there's a lot of people pushing for him to get into the race. should he? >> i don't know if he wil.

he's been a good governor in new jersey in a state that's had problems on and on and on. some things he does i agree with. some thgs i don't agree with. if he wants to run, get in there and do it. >> would he be a formidable candidate? >> i think he would. if you look at the republican field at the moment, ere's a number that obviously don't have a chance to be -- influence the dialogue or be the nominee. there are some that do. some i know, some i don't. >> rick perry loses the straw poll in florida. romney won in michigan. do you think his candidacy is fading? >i don't know. the pundits will tell you better than i. keep in mind, the press wants a battle, so they are going to knock down who is aead or the woman behind. some of these candidates positions trouble me to not

believe in science is just ridiculous. then to accuse perry of doing something wrong with a vaccine. he probably did what's right. to accuse romney of doing something wrong with alth care in massachusetts. 's really the only change that has worked. they seem to be aad at t moment. they both have things i agree with and things i don't agree with. >> has anything changed your view about the nee for a third party and do you think it's viable in this leadership climate? >> a third party candidate is not a viable candidate. i'm not going to be one. if somebody wants to run, if it's going to get you on the ballot, it's good for democracy. the public tends to vote with one of the two major parties. >> will you endorse a candidate? >> probably not. i'm going to work with who ever wins. i have an obligation to do what is right for the city of new

york. whether i think it's right for the country, my job is to make sure new york city benefits from whoever is in office. >> do you think the president can be reelected? >> yeah. the incumbents have an advantage. if i was the president, i was emphasize the things i have done. some things haven't worked, i apologize for that. the president is a viable candidate. >> let me spend a couple moments on education. it's been a top priority for you during your years as mayor. there's been criticism aut larger class sizes, holes indicating disapproval of you among new yorkers. what do you think is the -- >> one poll that said the public wasn't satisfied with the improvement in education. the intellectual dishonesty in the poll is mind boggling. there are only 10% of the people in the poll who were asked in

the poll who send their kids to public schools. if you don't work in the public schools or send your kids to public schools, how would you know? if you poll the parents, they think it's better. they love the choice we have. we are opening new schools and closing failing ones. we have raised salaries 45% over ten years to keep them from leaving the city. we increased the school budget by 105% in the last ten years. they love the fact we are focusing education on the kind of things that help kids get jobs. our objective is to make everybody college ready or career ready or both. today, we have design, art and graphics, medicine, law, computer science. we have adeal with ibm where we have a school that goes nine through 14 grades. nine through 12 in the public

schools. you stay in and get a junior college associates degree and ib puts you on the list to hire you. it matters to parents. they love the schools. when you do the survey, the constant dising of what our parents and teachers have done, i find it disgraceful. the truth of the matter is, we have increased by 50% the amount of kids that get high school diplomas. it's not as good as you would like ito be but you can't get a job in sanitation without a high school diploma. you can't get in the military without a high school diploma. >> a segway into our conversation on education nation. thank you so much. >> my pleasure. >> apreciate it. coming up, kicking off education nation. a special discussion, more of what we started here about

public hools how politics and policy affect the debate ov reform. also how to keep america competitive in a global economy. we'll have more on the race for the white house in 2012. joining us, university of miami president, donna shalala. bill bennett, tim shriver and tavis smiley, after the break. [ female announcer ] the road is not exactly a place of intelligence. ♪ across the nation over 100,000 miles of highways and bridges are in disrepair. add to that, countless distractions every mile... ♪ ...millions of ill-equipped vehicles... ♪ ...half a million cubic yards of debris...

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coming up, a special discussion about public schools, how pocy and politics affects reform. joining me, donna

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we are bacwith our rnd table. joining me now, former secretary of health and human services for president clinton, donna shalala. chairman and ceo of the special olympics tim shriver is here, author author of the book "fail up" tavis smiley and former secretary of education and host of bill bennett in the morning, billbennett. welcome to all of you.

such a big topic. it's complicated on one level, has a lot of layers but it's so important. bill bennett, have we succeeded in this country in making education an economic issue rather than just a social issue? >> i think we have. everyone is focused on economics now. you see the connection with education. we know the effects of good teaching and good schools on kids' abilities to get jobs. we know about skill deficits. we know, very simple, in the most global way, if you have higher education, if you completed college, the unemployment rate is about 5%. if you finished high school, the unemployment rate is about 9%. if you haven't finished high school, unemployment is 15%. those are big numbers and important numbers, but they still tell us something. >> president shalala, where are we with broad sweeping education reform? the president ushered in a program called race to the top that followed the no child left behind in the bush administration.

but we're not there yet? >> we're not there yet. we still failed to recognize that it's not just metrics and testing. it's investment in teachers, in families. the economic dimension is clear. i was at a dinner party. a mother got up, distinguished scientist, said she had to get home and help their daughter with their homework. the two waiters, their faces changed. ey we working their second job and were not able to get home to help their children with their homework. that's another economic dimension of education. we know the parental support, community support makes a difference. it's not just the metrics of testing and putting pressure on thschools and on the teachers. this is a big issu >> tavis smiley, you have a special report that's out that you've done called "too important to fail" about african-american males and the country who are still falng behind in the educational system. is government the answer?

is a more muscular approach showing some result? >> before i get to the issue of black boys, let me just say, i don't think this is as complicated as we make it. 's not a skill problem. it's a will problem. does america have the will to make education a priority? we know the things that work, why don't we scale those things that do work. to your earlier point, politics often get in the way. that's the case specifically with black boys. in some states, not even 50% of black boys finish high school. you put on top of that a disproportionate use of suspension and expulsion and special education on top of that, you put poverty, long-term poverty and crime and drugs and gangs, no wonder this problem exists. it is a national disgrace. if the numbers are impacting black boys engulfing them, were the case for white boys in america, it wouldn't just be a national disgrace, it would be a national emergency. it's not a skill problem, it's a will problem. these boys are disposable and invisible, they don't matter.

>> there are areas in inner city throughout the country where there are programs, privately funded be in some cases, tim shriver, that are successful. what is working that can be a national model outside of what government may try to do in public schools? >> i think the question really isn't do we have high expectations. what happened in the last decade, we have high expectations. democrats and republicans came together ten years ago, passed legislation that said we want to be more focused on ensuring every child learns. wh's happened is we focus too much on tests, too narrowly on performance measures that n't allow students to be motivated and don't allow teachers to teach, don't allow the arts, physical education, activities of those kind that inspire kids, we don't have an inspiration nation, we have a blame and recrimination nation when it comes to education. teachers are the focus of what everybody thinks is wrong rather than looking at the way kids,

families can be engaged in the school and invited to do the kinds of things that are the 21st century schools, social skills, optimism, persistence, resilience. these are the things that inspire young people, which have been pushed out too frequently. >> do you worry about the -- the accountability movement is behind reform. that's taken hold. but now we've gotten into a pre-polarized place, even in education reform. what are the big ideas now that you think are working? >> some of that polarization is good, by the way. say one word for tests. if we don't do the tests we don't know what tavis just reported. you have to do the tests to find out how the patient is doing. when you do the test, you find out in the n.a.t.e. scores, 53% of black fourth graders cannot read at a basic leve that is a national disgrace and that needs to be shouted from the rooftops, particularly since we're spending a lot more money on education and we know how to teach reading. you asked about things that work.

right here in this city, not far from where we are, harlem success academy number one in the same building with ps-149, the success rate of the charter encouraging, let's do what they do, let's use the will to do what they do and not what they do in the failing schools. i'm going to come back quickly to something donna said and tavis picked it up and tim did as well. two critical adults in this business, teachers and teach accountability and i'm for it. i ao think we should pay our good teachers more. the other adult is the parent. it really does make a difference in a society when 30% of our kids don't live with their fathers. when there are a lot of people who can't go home and work with the kids on homework, all the research is clear. the teacher is the single most importt factor in the school. the most important part of education in a child's education is parent. parents interest in that child's education. >> i agree with that. in fairytales, the cldren are saved by caring adults.

we need more caring adults in the lives of our children. it's not just formal teaching in the classroom. it's coaches. it's people that are involved in kids' lives at every level and supporting their parents. their parents need better jobs so they can help them with their homework. and don't have to work two jobs. >> can i say one other thing, tavis. when we have a more muscular federal rule, to have this conversation, are you concerned and bill maybe you'll respond, that you'll have another round of republican candidates talking about shutting down the department of education? is that part of the solution? >> that would be tragic if that happened, number one. i think there is a role for government to play here. again, the demonization over the last few years of teachers and of unions and of collective bargaining, that's not the answer. i was with a bunch of group of young folks yesterday, secretary bennett, in washington, we all applaud their efforts, but these folks were complning to me

about how they're being told they have to teach to the test. they are not allowed to be flexible and creative in the classroom because they have to teach for the test. i agree with everything tim said except for one thing, i still think the one thing george bush said as president, i love the phrase, the soft bigotry of low expectations, still the case in this country. the soft bigotry of expectation, if you don't expect them to learn, to succeed it becomes a sufl self-fulfilling prophecy. >> i'll come back more of our conversation, including what should students know to qualify for this difficult economy. more with our round table after this. >> for insurance, annuities and investments, choose pacific life, the life moves fast. we're often so busy dealing with what's in front of us that we lose sight of the big picture. that's why it's good, every now and then, to pause,

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and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle...and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. now this...will work. [ male announcer ] just like you, business pro. just like you. go national. go like a pro. we're back with our round table. bi bennett. i want to pick up on this issue of the federal role. republicans saying shut down the department of education again. is that the right idea? >> that pinata that centered in one of these debates. i was held hostage until ronald reagan sent a letter to the committee saying he wouldn't abolish the department otherwise i wouldn't have gotten the job. no, you don't need a department of education. you have one. you're likely to have one. it should do good things and encoure the right things. rather than the wrong things. i think secretary of education is encouraged by the right things. when you look at what works,

what succeeds for kids, federal education department matters less than the adults in that place in that child's life, in the home and in the school and on the playing field. you get that right combination of adults, that child will succeed. >> donna shalala, this question that i keep coming back to, which is what should our students know? what should our graduating seniseen know in this economy in this role in time? it plays in the role of higher education. >> it does. clearly, they have to know how to read and write and speak. more than that, they have to know how to absorb new knowledge. we can't predict what they're going to need to know ten years from now. we know they have to have a set of skillso they can absorb new technology, understand the new things that are coming at them. th's very important. high education has a role. we need to drive down requirements for the schools. in the 19th century, we increased in the quality of the schools by higher education

saying you can't come in unless you have these skills. unless you have taken these courses. we did that in wisconsin when i was there. it helped to transform the secondary school system. we gave the secondary schools seven years to meet the new requirements at the university of wisconsin madison. hier education has a role here. in demanding that kids be better prepared for they enter. >> it's not just, you say, what students should now, but how they should learn is really important. >> the good news we've learned a lot about how they learn. we learned we can teach important skills. we didn't know we could teach. we can teach them to be problem solvers. we can teach children to optimistic and persistent, teach children to understand their own feelings and be able to channel feelings in a productive way. around learning tasks. when we dot social and emotional side of the ledger well, test scores go up. when we think about kids who are under achieving we've got to look at the underpinnings of motivation, attention, inspiration, get the kids involved in owning their own education.

eye agree witsecretary bennett that the federal government shouldn't be an obstacle. it can be annvitation. it can be asking the question, the question that i love, what would it take for every teacher, parent and child to leave the school at the end of the day inspired? that's a question we can ask ourselves, not just -- >> but tavis, character education, a necessary part of school reform? if we have to acknowledge the whole child is somehow let down by what's happening outside the school? >> in a word yes. character education is terribly important. yes. number two, depending on what kids need to know. they need to think critically for themselves. problem solving. and when you teach to the test, this is my problem, kids don't learn how to think critically for themselves number on what they should also know quickly, thomas friedman said that the wor is flat, i'm not so sure it's flat as tilting and it tilting more against us. that is to say we are in a global environment. a glob world.

if we don't get this education right for our children, the country endsp being bearing the brunt of that. a renewed focus on children is a renewed focus on this country. >> just a word about the discipline in the global economy. a lot of outsourcing, which a lot of us regret, takes place not because wages are lower, but skills are better. people go to india because they know math and science better. a wd for the disciplines here. >> do we need more vocational education? >> yes, we do. if you look right now in this job market, people are lking for welders, mechanics, plumbers and aeronautical engineers and we have too much disdain for that. >> quickly, president shalala, i have one question, should college athletes be paid? >> no. they should not be paid. i feel very strongly about that. i do know that we still have a magnificent higher education system. whatever we say about the rest of the world, we are preparing those scientists and no one can replace the great researchers.

>> i want to get another break in here. that was interesting. she said no. we could have a debate on that for an hour. we'll have to do that at another time. we'll come back and talk about republican politics as well before we end this hour. we'll come back right after this. university of phoenix is proud to sponsor "educationnation" because we believe we know why we're here. to give our war fighters every advantage. ♪ [ man ] to deliver technologies that anticipate the future, today. ♪ and help protect america, everywhere. from the battle space to cyberspace. [ female announcer ] around the globe, the people of boeing are working together. to give our best, for america's best. that's why we're here. ♪

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in our final moments i want to talk about political news. some developmentsthis weekend. the florida straw poll showed herman cane on top. rick perry the second place. michigan straw poll, mitt romney on top and perry coming in second. how do you see this race onhe republican side? >> i don't see what happens. i think it's suddenly up for grabs. i think you'll see more talk about other people getting in. >> you think chris christie is viable? >> i may try paul ryan again. i'm part of that team. we'll see. perry has got to perform better. people talked about this thing being too long and we have too many debates. it has an effect. it gives people to take a look. i think it's wide open. >> look at the trend tracker this morning. romney versus perry is on top.

chris christie is number two. obama highlighting education is three. in the pres conversation we do each week on the blog, we oke to the communications director, dan pfeiffer. this is what he said about the front-runners on the republican side. >> what i do know, at least of the two front-runners that are running, governor perry and governorromney, they are both tremendous candidates. they have adopted positions. they have -- governor perry is someone who led the tea party. governor romney is being led by the tea party. >> donna shalala, you worked for bill clinton. where do you see president obama now. is he still a front-runner? >> i think he's a front-runner, there's no question about that. forhose of us who teach

politics, it's a lot of fun except it's a serious business. the president has a real race ahead, no matter who the candidate is because of the economy, but i think he's the front-runner. >> is leadership tough at the moment? >> this is the 50th anniversary of the peace corps this week. the goal of pop ticks is to make a difference. i hope they see this election as a challenge to inspire the american people to take some ownership themselves of their future. americans are hungry. kids are hungry. they want to grow up in a diverse and successful world. they want to be contributors to their community. they need a political side that's mastered the arc of asking. >> i'm going to make that the last word. we are out of time. thank you all very much. before we go, you can watch continuing coverage of nbcs

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so they can focus on building amazing bikes. few years, up to 1 million new teachers will be needed as baby boomers retire. who's up for the job? you can have a remarkable impact on the life of a child... the more you know.